Kindle Fire Update May Fix Software Issues, but What About Hardware Problems?

Amazon is taking the growing chorus of compaints about the performance of its new Kindle Fire tablet to heart.

Responding to Fire owners who have been griping about the device’s poor scrolling, slow Web browsing experience and lack of security and parental controls, Amazon told the New York Times that a fix is in the works. In less than two weeks, the company will roll out an over-the-air update designed to improve the Fire’s performance and address complaints about its multitouch navigation.

That may well be enough to satisfy some ornery Fire owners, though perhaps not all. The Fire page on Amazon.com shows an unusually high number of poor reviews right now; there are quite a few feature complaints about both software and hardware. Amazon may be able to address the former with an OTA update, but it can’t really do much about the latter. New software might fix the Fire’s jittery scrolling, but it can’t add an external volume button or move the Fire’s power switch to a better position. Nor can it easily fix the “fat finger” problem that usability guru Jakob Nielsen recently warned could be the device’s downfall.

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